Silverman: Giants, Jets Well-Represented In Top 10 Super Bowls
By Steve Silverman
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By the time Sunday night's festivities come to a close, those of us who have been on this earth a relatively long time will have had the opportunity to see 50 Super Bowls.
That's a pretty good sample size for a game that came about in a secret meeting between American Football League founder Lamar Hunt and Dallas Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm (under Pete Rozelle's direction) in an airport parking lot in 1966.
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Afraid of the bidding war that was unfolding for star players under the aggressive direction of Al Davis, the NFL opted to merge with its rival league.
The longest-lasting effect of that secret negotiation has been the Super Bowl, and this is clearly the correct time to assess the best of those games.
Having seen all 49 of the Super Bowls and having written about and covered the game since Super Bowl XLI in January 1982, here's my look at the top 10 Super Bowls.
10. San Francisco 49ers 20, Cincinnati Bengals 16, Super Bowl XXIII (1982): You couldn't blame fans if they weren't overly interested when the Niners and Bengals got together in Miami. The previous five Super Bowls had all been blowouts, decided by an average of 28.2 points, and the game had a reputation for being a disappointing anticlimax.
But the Bengals and Boomer Esiason were not having anything to do with another coronation for the Niners. Cincinnati had a 16-13 lead late in the fourth quarter before Joe Montana led a game-winning 92-yard drive that culminated with a 10-yard game-winning TD pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds remaining.
9. Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10, AFL-NFL Championship Game (1967): This game is almost universally referred to as Super Bowl I, but that's rewriting history. The naming of the game didn't come become official until the following year.
The first meeting of the AFL and NFL champions came with incredible tension and anticipation, and it's quite shocking that there were more than 30,000 empty seats at the Los Angeles Coliseum for this game between Vince Lombardi's Packers and Hank Stram's Chiefs.
Kansas City actually kept this game close for 30 minutes, trailing 14-10 at halftime.
However, Packers defensive back Willie Wood intercepted a Len Dawson pass early in the third quarter, and that set up a 5-yard TD run by Green Bay running back Elijah Pitts. Bart Starr won the first of his two Super Bowl MVP awards.
8. Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24, Super Bowl XXXII (1998): The Broncos had been to the Super Bowl four times, and they had never come close to winning. John Elway was the quarterback in three of those defeats, and he was getting near the end of his career, and he was desperate to win the big one.
The Broncos were huge underdogs to Brett Favre and the Packers. Not only did they have a tough matchup on their hands, but the AFC had lost the previous 13 Super Bowls.
The Broncos traded punches with the Packers, but it was Elway's 8-yard scramble that set his team up for a late third-quarter TD that turned momentum in Denver's favor. They won the game on a Terrell Davis fourth-quarter touchdown and clinched it when Favre's fourth-down pass fell harmlessly to the ground with seconds remaining.
7. Kansas City Chiefs 23, Minnesota Vikings 7, Super Bowl IV (1970): Almost as significant as the Jets' win over the Colts in Super Bowl III, the Chiefs used a superb game plan from Stram and even better execution from Dawson to beat an overwhelmingly talented Vikings teams.
This was a huge win for the American Football League in the last game ever played between the two leagues, as the merger took full effect the following season. Kansas City neutralized Minnesota's legendary front four that included Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen. The Kansas City front stopped Minnesota quarterback Joe Kapp in his tracks.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers 35, Dallas Cowboys 31, Super Bowl XIII (1979): The Steelers and Cowboys had played in a compelling Super Bowl three years earlier, and that 21-17 Pittsburgh victory could have gone in this spot. But this game featured a brilliant offensive show from both teams.
Terry Bradshaw led the Steelers to their third Super Bowl win in five seasons (they would win one more the following year), and Roger Staubach traded shots with him throughout the game. The Cowboys might have pulled it out if tight end Jackie Smith had not dropped a wide-open pass in the end zone late in the third quarter that would have allowed the Cowboys to tie the game and given them momentum.
5. New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19, Super Bowl XXV (1991): This was the first of four straight Super Bowl appearances for the Bills, and it was almost certainly Buffalo's best team. The Bills had a fast-paced and explosive offense, while the Giants had backup quarterback Jeff Hostetler and a nasty defense.
By all rights, the Bills were the more talented team and should have won this game. However, Bill Parcells and his defensive coordinator, Bill Belichick, came up with the winning strategy and frustrated the Bills throughout. Buffalo had a chance to win on the final play, but Scott Norwood's 47-yard field goal attempt drifted famously wide right, and the Giants had an improbable victory.
4. New England Patriots 28, Seattle Seahawks 24, Super Bowl XLIX (2015): The Seahawks were gunning for their second straight Super Bowl title, while the Patriots were playing for their fourth, but their first in 10 years. The Patriots had taken a late lead on Tom Brady's 3-yard TD pass to Julian Edelman.
It looked like the Seahawks would win the game when they had the ball at the New England 1-yard line in the final seconds. But instead of having Marshawn Lynch power the ball into the end zone, Russell Wilson threw a short pass to Ricardo Lockette that New England rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted. The play will live on infamy in Super Bowl history.
3. New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7, Super Bowl III (1969): The most significant game in the history of the Super Bowl, as the American Football League gained respect when the Jets stopped the Colts, who were favored by 18 points.
The Colts were looked at as unstoppable, and most thought the Jets were not as good as Kansas City or Oakland, the AFL's two previous Super Bowl participants. However, Joe Namath guaranteed the win when he was egged on by mouthy Baltimore fans and then delivered. He had tremendous support from running back Matt Snell and wide receiver George Sauer, and a defense that frustrated the Colts from start to finish.
2. New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14, Super Bowl XLII (2008): The Patriots were gunning to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the second team in league history to have a perfect season and win the Super Bowl. They were on the precipice of greatness as they led the Giants 14-10 in the late stages of the fourth quarter.
However, just as Eli Manning was about to get sacked on a third-down play that almost certainly would have clinched the game for New England, he completed a miraculous 32-yard pass to David Tyree that the wideout secured by pinning the ball to his helmet. Four plays later, Manning threw the game-winning TD pass to Plaxico Burress, and the Giants had their championship and the Patriots had their heartbreak.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers 27, Arizona Cardinals 23, Super Bowl XLIII (2009): This game had it all when it comes to end-of-game drama and huge plays.
On the final play of the first half, Steelers linebacker James Harrison intercepted a Kurt Warner pass at the goal line and brought it back 100 yards for a touchdown that allowed the Steelers to take a 17-7 lead.
The Cardinals were undaunted, and they fought back and went ahead 23-20 with 2:37 left on Warner's 64-yard TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald, who streaked through the Pittsburgh secondary. However, Santonio Holmes gave the Steelers the win with his spectacular catch of a 6-yard TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger in the corner of the end zone with 35 seconds to play.
Follow Steve on Twitter at @ProFootballBoy
